Category Archives: drug development

Angelina Jolie and gene patch medicine

Could Gene Patch Meds (Oligos) Prevent Mastectomies Like Angelina Jolie’s?

Genetic Testing is Surprisingly Easy and Affordable According to Author of New Gene Patch Medicine (Oligonucleotide) Book

San Francisco, CA (5/15/13) Genetic testing showed that Angelina Jolie had an 87% chance of getting breast cancer. So Jolie had both breasts removed in a double mastectomy to prevent it. In a New York Times Op-Ed piece on May 14, 2013, she expressed a wish for all women with a family history of the disease: “It is my hope that they, too, will be able to get gene tested. If they have a high risk they, too, will know that they have strong options.”

Angelina Jolie and gene patch medicine

Angelina Jolie and gene patch medicine

Genetic testing was once something only movie stars could afford. But prices have come down so much in recent years that almost everyone can afford it, according to Dr. Stephen Shrewsbury. He recently wrote the book, Defy Your DNA: How the New Gene Patch Personalized Medicines Will Help You Overcome Your Greatest Health Challenges (10 Finger Press/2013). Shrewsbury says that a number of companies make gene testing easy and affordable. “They send you a simple spit test kit. They then test the cells in your spit for as many as 200 traits, including for breast cancer” he says. “If your test shows you have a higher risk of breast cancer, you should consider further testing for the BRCA1 and 2 genes, as Angelina Jolie did.”

Gene Patch Testing by Genetics Testing Laboratory

Companies like Genetics Testing Laboratory (www.gtldna.com) of Las Cruces, New Mexico and 23andMe of Mountain View, California let you know your risk for a wide variety of diseases, including breast cancer, diabetes, other cancers, heart disease and Alzheimer’s. The cost of testing for all of these at Genetics Testing Laboratory is $285 (reduced by 30% with a special discount voucher available to those who buy one of the first 1000 copies of Defy Your DNA).

“In some cases,” says Shrewsbury, “the test can put your mind at ease. In others, especially in terms of Alzheimer’s and heart disease, it can encourage you to make changes to lower your risks.”

Jolie’s mother died at age 56 after a ten-year long battle with cancer. Jolie had the mastectomy done in part for her children’s peace of mind.

In his book, Shrewsbury says that there are already medicines being developed so that in future surgery won’t be needed. Instead of a mastectomy, a gene patch medicine (an oligonucleotide) can be given. “These new personalized medicines will patch or fix the genetic defects that cause breast cancer. When they’re finally approved, women won’t have to have surgery in order to remain healthy.”

Chromosomes

Gene Patents Case Accelerates Oligonucleotides (Gene Patch) Development

Supreme Court Ruling on Gene Patents Will Speed Up Oligonucleotides Revolution in Health Care. That is According to Author of New Gene Patch Medicine (Oligonucleotides) Book

On June 13, 2013, the United States Supreme Court ruled that naturally occurring human genes can’t be patented. The decision should encourage researchers to move forward with potentially life-saving genetic testing for a variety of diseases.

Oligonucleotides

Oligonucleotides

Dr. Stephen B. Shrewsbury says that the decoding of the human genome has led to the discovery of dozens of new medicines that may prevent or treat genetic disease. Shrewsbury has just published Defy Your DNA: How the New Gene Patch Personalized Medicines Will Help You Overcome Your Greatest Health Challenges. Called oligos, oligomers or oligonucleotides, these medicines are nicknamed gene patches. Shrewsbury says “these gene patches act like computer software patches. They fix the faulty message that comes from a damaged pieces of genetic code. If those faulty genes were patented, it would make it more difficult for researchers to develop these patches”.

Dr. Shrewsbury adds: “This new type of drug has the potential to stop everything from cancer and diabetes to rare diseases like muscular dystrophy and sickle cell anemia. These medicines will revolutionize healthcare. They may be the greatest medical breakthrough since penicillin.”

Oligonucleotides

Shrewsbury predicts blockbuster drugs will be replaced in future by personalized medicines. These very accurate gene patches will be very precise and personal to you and your disease. In the more distant future, gene patch therapy will be superseded by gene replacement therapy. Then new genes may be inserted while removing damaged ones.

The Supreme Court ruled that patents owned by Salt Lake City-based Myriad Genetics were void. The court noted that the patents covered DNA isolated from the human body. The court said that was different from synthetic DNA being created in a lab. Justice Clarence Thomas wrote: “We hold that a naturally occurring DNA segment is a product of nature. It is not patent eligible merely because it has been isolated.”

This ruling is a win-win for both Oligonucleotides researchers and patients alike, believes Dr. Shrewsbury. The ruling will help medical research on drugs such as those described in Defy Your DNA. “A big benefit with this new type of gene patch (oligo) medicine is that the development program should take less time,” he says. He also believes costs of genetic profile testing will become more affordable for the average family. Together genetic testing and gene patch medicines (oligos) will lead to a brave new medical world.

“In the not too distant future, when a child is born, they’ll be required to have two documents: a birth certificate and a map of their DNA” added Shrewsbury. “From birth we will know what diseases we run greater risks of getting, how to better avoid them or when to start focused testing for their early detection.